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1833.

So urgent was the case, that the proposals were agreed to CHAP. without a division, and the House met for the first time at twelve o'clock on 27th February. This circumstance had an important effect upon the future proceedings of the reformed Parliament, for the weight of business ere long falling upon it was so prodigious that none but those practically trained to such endurance could withstand its pressure, and in the attempt to do so, the superiority of the 35; Parl. trained debaters, as of old soldiers, or workmen in their 1, 1833. respective vocations, was soon apparent.

1

Ann. Reg.

1833, 33,

Deb., Feb.

30.

Bill for Ire

The first and most pressing business of the session was the state of Ireland, which had deteriorated so rapidly Coercion that something vigorous evidently required to be done land. if society was to be prevented from falling into a state of utter dissolution and anarchy. So far from Catholic Emancipation and the Reform Bill having had the effect which was anticipated from them, of appeasing the discontent and remedying the grievances of that unhappy country, the effect of these measures had proved just the reverse. With every step in advance made, the agitation, violence, and outcry had increased in a most frightful degree, and they had now reached a height unparalleled in any civilised state. Since the passing of the Catholic Relief Bill in 1829, serious crime over all Ireland had increased SIXTEEN-FOLD in the short space of four years.*

Lord Althorpe, in the House of Commons, gave the following appalling statement of the progress of serious crime during the last three months of each year and first of 1833, in the province of Leinster, from 1829 to 1833:

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1833.

CHAP. If Government was not to abdicate its functions altogether, and leave the country to the unrestrained violence of lawless ruffians, it was evident that something very vigorous, and altogether different from the old system of conciliation and concession to outrage, required to be done; and Ministers, to their credit be it said, applied a remedy, as the result proved, of a most efficient kind. On 15th February, Earl Grey brought forward the celebrated COERCION BILL, which deserves to be noted as the first step in the right direction in the government of Ireland, and not less certainly in his own fall. The debate which 1 Ann. Reg. ensued was of the highest importance, and throws more light than any which had preceded it on the real state of Ireland, and the causes of its disastrous condition.1

1833, 38,

46.

31.

of Ministers

ercion Bill.

On the part of Ministers, it was argued by Earl Grey, Argument Lord Althorpe, Sir Robert Peel, and Mr Stanley: "The for the Co- bill now proposed is brought forward without the preliminary step of taking evidence by a committee, because the circumstances under which it is called for required no investigation, but are known to all the world. It is not with a secret conspiracy, directing its concealed attacks against the Government, that we have to do. The powers demanded by Ministers are intended to repress a system of association which proceeds openly under an organisation, and is avowedly directed to the accomplishment of objects which at once destroy the peace and safety of the community, and threaten the unity and integrity of the empire; an organisation which, by means of armed bodies, violates the rights of property, inflicts death for the purposes of terror and vengeance, and renders nugatory the law, by deterring prosecutors and witnesses, and intimidatingjurors. Neither past experience nor the present posture of affairs justify the expectation that a mere redress of grievances will restore peace to Ireland. It was confidently expected by ourselves that emancipation would produce tranquillity, and that Parliament would be allowed to pursue its course of further amelioration, without being disturbed by popu

lar violence.

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1833.

But we have been grievously disappointed. CHAP. To allow such a pause did not meet the views of the promoters of agitation; the sweets of power had been tasted by the popular leaders; the slow work of redress did not suit their wishes or purposes: from that moment agitation was renewed, and the state of Ireland had become, and now is, more alarming and worse than at any former period.

32.

"The new body of Irish volunteers, which has been recently set on foot, threatens consequences still more Continued. alarming. There is a central Association in Dublin ; and for every parish in Ireland there are appointed three pacificators, one of whose duties is to enlist and enrol the neighbouring population, farmers and labourers, in associations which should be under the direction of the central association. The declared object of this society was peace, and the protection of the country without the aid of police. Though at present unarmed, it was acknowledged they were to be ultimately armed; and there would be established, by the influence of moral and physical agency, as a proof of revolutionary success, a National Guard, as in a neighbouring kingdom. This is the Association, and its action depends on the breath of a single man. A Mr Steele, an active agent of these pacificators, has declared,' If O'Connell should command us to have recourse to arms, blood, and convulsion, instead of our usual constitutional warfare, I would not order the Clare men to go into Cralloc Wood to cut down trees for pikehandles, but I would first send them to cut down the trees on my own domain, and would not myself be idle, nor a mere looker-on in the conflict.' Such an Association, if suffered to exist, must lead to an abandonment of the whole powers and functions of Government: the throne thereafter must depend on the sufferance of the agitators.

33.

"A still more material object of the proposed bill is to restore the authority of the law; and this can be done Continued. only by extraordinary, and what at first sight may appear

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1833.

CHAP. exceptionable means. The ordinary tribunals have become almost powerless, by reason of the intimidation constantly exercised against prosecutors, witnesses, and jurors, who proceed in any way, however slight, against the crimes of the agitators. On the trial of the murderers at the last Kilkenny assizes, the jury, not agreeing, was dismissed. In half an hour, notwithstanding an agreement in the jury-room that the votes should be kept secret, the names of those for acquittal and those for conviction were printed, the former in black, the latter, who were designated jurors for blood, in red ink. At the Clonmell assizes in October last, out of 265 jurors cited, only seventy-six attended, so great was the intimidation exercised against them. A gentleman had been murdered in sight of his own gate, in consequence of some dispute about tithes. His sonin-law was cited by the coroner to give evidence against the supposed murderers. His answer was, I will submit to any penalty the Crown or law may impose upon me, but I will not appear at the trial, because I know, if I stand forward as a witness, my life will inevitably be forfeited.' The Irish government received a formal notice from Kilkenny, that many gentlemen who have always been most conscientious in the discharge of their duties will not attend the next assizes, because they know that death will follow if they dare to act. They care not what penalty is imposed upon them. It is the boast of the prisoners that they cannot under any circumstances be convicted.' No wonder that outrage had become triumphant. The catalogue of Irish crime during last year contains 196 murders, 465 robberies, 1827 burglaries and attacks on houses, 455 houghings of cattle, 2095 illegal notices, 425 illegal meetings, 796 malicious acts of destroying property, 753 attacks on houses, 280 arsons, 3156 serious assaults. This catalogue, in lost lives alone, contains a greater loss than was sacrificed in the battle of Busaco, which delivered a kingdom; or that of Algiers, which terminated Christian slavery; or that

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1833.

of St Vincent, which saved England. The aggregate of CHAP. predial crimes over all Ireland last year was 9000; and great as this number is, it is rapidly and alarmingly on the increase. During the months of July, August, and September, the crimes in Leinster alone were 1279: in the three following months they had risen to 1646. There is a system of demoralisation in Ireland now, such as never before existed in a country calling itself civilised.*

34.

"To meet these enormous evils, Government have adopted in the present bill the provisions of the 8th Continued. Geo. IV., c. 1, which empowers the Lord-Lieutenant to suppress the meeting of any assembly which should be deemed by him dangerous to the public peace, and to prevent the future meeting of such assembly, under any denomination whatever, under the penalties of a misdemeanour. Power is also to be given to the Lord-Lieutenant to declare, by proclamation, any district in a disturbed state, the effect of which was that all persons were to abstain from attending meetings, and prohibited from being absent from home from an hour after sunset till sunrise, without sufficient cause, under the like penalties. No meetings for petitioning Parliament to be held with

Sir Robert Peel, who acted a truly patriotic part on this occasion, and lent the aid of his great talents to support the ministerial measure, gave the following striking account of an incident in the course of Irish outrage which had fallen under his own knowledge: "A man, a resident in the county of Clare, came to Dublin for the purpose of giving me information respecting the perpetrators of a certain outrage. Though fully aware that he was marked out for vengeance by the friends of the person he had been the means of bringing to justice, the strong desire of revisiting his native spot, and embracing his wife and children, overcame every consideration of personal security. I knew the man's danger, and earnestly advised him not to go. My advice, however, was not taken; and some weeks after he had returned, an attack was made upon his house by eleven men, who, after much deliberation, had come with the deadly determination of immolating their innocent victim. They attacked the house while he was asleep, broke open the door, called out the man, and murdered him with pitchforks, in the hearing of his wife and child-a child only nine years of age. While he was still in the agony of death, the mother took the child, and, placing it in a recess beside the fireplace, she said—such was her heroic fortitude and almost incredible self-possession, even with the cries of her dying husband ringing in her ears-she said to the infant- You hear